General Secreatry, Jamil Maqsood, United Kashmir People's National Party ( Belgium )27 juni 2009 – 22:27

Kashmiri-Origin Woman is Clinton Aide for Muslims

A Kashmiri Muslim woman has been appointed United States' Special Representative to Muslim communities, in charge of a new office that is responsible for outreaching Muslims around the world.

The appointment was made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, officials said here today. Farah Pundit would carry out Ms Clinton's efforts to ''engage with Muslims around the world on a people-to-people and organizational level,'' the officials said.

Ms Pundit was previously adviser on Muslim engagement at the State Department, serving as a senior adviser to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs. She has also served on the National Security Council as coordinator for US policy on outreach to the minority community and worked at the US Agency for International Development on assistance projects for Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian Territories.
Ms Pundit, who immigrated to the United States with her parents from Srinagar, was quoted by the Italian press agency Adnkronos as saying in 2007 that she sees her personal experience as an illustration of how Muslim immigrants to the United States could successfully integrate themselves into American society.

Farah Pundit

she said along with the importance of education, she also learned to balance pride in cultural heritage with a deep attachment to the US values. In his June four speech in Cairo to Muslims around the world, US President Barrack Obama said he was seeking ''a new beginning'' between the United States and Muslims ''based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and ...based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. '' According to Boston Globe Farah Pundit is a long way from the violence of her native Kashmir, but it is never far from her thoughts.

Brief Biography, Courtesy Globe: In April 1993, one of her cousins was assassinated by a Kashmiri military group for trying to unify political factions. Another cousin was shot and killed by Indian troops during the funeral procession.

Five months later, Pundit began her studies at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Her relatives' deaths spurred her to focus on international security and conflict resolution. She wrote her thesis on the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and in 1994 secured grants to visit her war-ravaged homeland.

Pundit who lives in Canton with her mother and brother, has visited Kashmir at least 20 times in an effort to help find a way to end the conflict. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, tensions have risen even higher in Kashmir, and Pundit has often been asked to speak at schools about the situation.

Although she was raised in Milton and Braintree, Pundit remains closely aligned with Kashmir, a region with 12 million residents sitting between the northern borders of India and Pakistan. She has more than 40 first cousins and hundreds of other relatives still living in Kashmir, some of whom she regularly telephones and messages by e-mail.

Pundit arrived in the United States as a toddler on July 4, 1969. She came with her mother, Dr. Mehbooba Anwar (who has retired as medical director of Massachusetts Respiratory Hospital in Braintree), and her brother, Adeel Pundit, 28 .Her father arrived in 1970 and Pundit’s parents divorced when she was 10.

Pundit attended Milton Academy, where as co-class president she sharpened her leadership skills. "For Farah, leadership and service have never been a matter of trying to gain prestige or ego," said John Marshall, now a lawyer in Tampa, who attended Milton Academy with her from 1982 to 1986.

"Farah always has been in touch with everybody, top to bottom. She has such a kind and generous heart." Racial tensions escalated during Pundit’s time at Smith College in the late 1980s.As student government president, she addressed her school and the news cameras that crowded Northampton.

In the fall of 1989, Pundit opened the school year with a speech on diversity and tolerance. Barbara Bush, who was at Smith to receive an honor, spent a day with Pundit, and the next day her aides asked for a copy of the speech. Later that year, the wife of then President George Bush invited Pundit to the White House.

Pundit said her diplomatic skills seep into every aspect of her life. As vice president of international business for Boston-based ML Strategies LLC (an affiliate of the law firm Mintz Levin), she consults with clients that have problems in Ireland, Mexico, and Canada.
As a volunteer member of the World Affairs Council of Boston, she travels the world and organizes speakers in Boston. Even at work or on the street, Pundit said, she often schools people on what it means to be a Muslim. She also writes children's stories set in Kashmir.

"I like to make people understand each other," she said."I know it's so important to `get it' from an immigrant's perspective ... It's all about education."

Pundit’s mother describes her daughter as a "born leader